Ghost Hunt
by ViolaBlue
Summary: It was only a mission. A 'ridiculous' mission at that, but still a mission. A mission to go and find 'ghosts' to be truthful but ghosts don't exist, right? Maybe Hinata, Kiba, Naruto and Shikamaru shouldn't be so sure.
1. Waste of Time

**Ghost Hunt  
**_By An Angel In Tears_

**A/N** I am inspired. Surprisingly. I did start to write another Halloween fic but I gave up because it began to go in a different direction as to the way I wanted it to go and it involved killer sheep which apparently isn't too good for your mind when you have a phobia of sheep.  
I should also include this in the story aswell. This isn't going to be one of your average all out gore and horror stories. I'm using references I've seen on TV, such as 'Most Haunted' strangely enough so please don't complain if you have been following the story and then it didn't live up to the expectations you wanted it to be.  
Enjoy this, I suppose.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, never have and personally know that I never will. Boo.**

-x-

"What?"

"You're going to go to these locations and prove that there are no ghosts there whatsoever," came Tsunade's sharp reply, a smirk developing on her face at the growing surprise and horror growing on each of the ninja's faces who were standing in front of them. It was an odd mission, of course but somebody had to check out these few locations. Some of the villagers were increasingly growing more and more scared as more horror tales came out and the only way Tsunade was going to get them to be quiet was to send a group of her ninja's there. No big deal seeing as this was only for one night and anyways, ghosts didn't exist anyways.

Three locations… that's where the rumours were springing up from, and before complete and utter panic swept over Konoha, Tsunade wanted this nipped in the bud so it couldn't go any further. An old mine shaft which had been left derelict a mile or two outside of Konoha was one of the prime targets she wanted this group of ninja to pay a visit to. Seriously, why would anyone want to send people there? Of course, people who decided to pay a 'visit' to the old mine came back frightened, complaining of freaky noises and rocks hitting them. As if. Ghosts did not exist, and they never would, right? Serves the people right for being hit by rocks if they did exist, seeing as though they would probably dealing in business in the Black Market.

Next spot was a forest, medium in size. It wasn't located in the most convenient of spots if you liked your forests, and it wasn't really close to any useful routes. There were maybe one or two homes located near it, but that was it. Of course, more old tales plagued that forest, but most of them were just old legends which nobody paid attention to anymore as they ceased to be true. Tsunade had never been in that forest so she couldn't brag too much about it.

The third and final location was an old castle from times way before Tsunade could remember. It didn't host royalty or anything like that nowadays, but a small family who seemed to be blessed to have stumbled on this as a home. Well, blessed if they didn't mind being cut off a lot from the outside world as it appeared that a lot of their guests were now 'spooked' from returning. Their imaginations really were running wild, weren't they?

There was a genuine reason to send the group of ninja to the first location as she was being paid for it. In a way. It would shut the complaining villagers who were beginning to panic, and Tsunade was managing to gain money from it by some crook who came complaining to Tsunade. Well, it was money and it would keep some of the ninja's demanding missions quiet for a few hours. The second location sort of had a genuine reason, but Tsunade was just sending the ninja's there for the fun of it if she wanted to be honest. And the third location… one of the family's guests came to Tsunade complaining of unusual things happening and rather than sending out a whole new group… why not send the same group? It meant that they'd be gone for a whole night as strangely enough, all three locations were close to one another and it just meant less paperwork!

As Naruto opened his mouth to speak again, Tsunade cast a warning eye at him.

Uzumaki Naruto.

Nara Shikamaru.

Inuzuka Kiba.

Hyuuga Hinata.

All of the ninja had been specifically selected for this mission regardless of who they usually went around with, regardless whether they liked this or not. Naruto because he would instantly be able to cheer the group up if something just happened to happen or go wrong. Shikamaru was there because he would be able to come up with some sort of logical conclusion to anything that happened, which would help to put the over-reacting villagers minds to rest. Kiba was there mainly because of his acute sense of hearing and smell which would probably come in handy somewhere in this mission. It didn't take a genius to realise the reason why Hinata had been placed on this mission. For her byakugan. She had been chosen over Neji as Tsunade felt that Hinata, although she could be a tad spooked, would be able to diffuse any situation that blew up between Naruto and Kiba.

Currently, as the group stood, Hinata was standing with her arms at her sides, her eyes seemingly flickering towards Naruto every so often before focusing back on Tsunade. Naruto was still oblivious to any attention given to him from Hinata, still surprised and disgruntled from the 'mission' Tsunade was giving them. Kiba was still keeping his attention on Tsunade, although it was wavering a little bit seeing as though Tsunade had restricted him from bringing Akamaru on this mission for some reason or other. Shikamaru couldn't care less, as a yawn escaped from him.

This so-called mission was going to be troublesome, even if the duration of it only lasted a night.

"Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, Nara Shikamaru, Uzumaki Naruto, as Hokage I grant you this mission. Do not fail me," Tsunade commanded, making sure that there were going to be no more childish complaints from a certain blonde ninja.

"Yes ma'am."

-x-

After briefing them on what would be expected of this mission, the four-man team was dismissed, with the group deciding to meet at the front gates in five minutes. The way this mission went, they wouldn't need a change of clothes but they were each planning to take a few extra kunai and shiruken in case of an attack. A shinobi can never be under prepared.

The sun was still in the sky, although it was starting to lower and paint the sky in a faint tinge of pink that usually wouldn't be so prominent to any member of the group. The only reason the mission was given to this group which averaged as a Chuunin ranked group was that they would be travelling about at night and a genin squad wouldn't be adequate for that just yet.

At the first stop, the old mine, the group knew fully well what to do, which would take an hour at least. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going to happen and just how it was set to happen.

The second stop would be a little shaky, although Shikamaru had already formulated a small plan in his head about where the main areas of the forest were, and how they were going to be targeted. If anything, that area was going to be a bumpy ride for the group.

The third and final stop, the castle which had a family inhabited in it already, was probably going to be the easiest one of all so not much effort was going to be required there which was lucky for the group.

Actually, this mission was so basic it wasn't going to require barely any effort at all other than swiftly moving from location to location.

Oh, what fun they were going to have.

-x-

The sun was still in the sky, although one who was particularly observant would have noticed by now it was a little lower than it had been previously when the group had left Tsunade's office. One by one each member of the squad arrived in a few minutes of each other. Hinata arrived first, followed by Shikamaru, then Kiba. The end of the ten minutes that the group had allocated themselves was coming to an end with no sign of Naruto.

"Where is he?" Kiba sulked, still a little disgruntled over not being able to bring Akamaru on the mission. And the fact that he had to wait for Naruto wasn't making things any better. The group was silent in response. Hinata pressed her fingers together in the usual fashion she did and Shikamaru didn't seem to care less as to where Naruto was.

Three seconds to go to the ten minutes was up. Well, it was useful to keep a record of the time which passed by.

Tick.

Tick.

"I'm here!" cheered the voice of everyone's favourite hyperactive ninja, Naruto. Not that he was as hyperactive as he was when he had first became a genin, but traces of the hyper activeness he did possess were still there in almost everything he did.

"About time," Kiba grunted, pushing himself up from the wall next to the gate which he had been leaning on.

"Konnichi-wa, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata greeted, her stutter once again growing prominent in her voice. At least she didn't stutter as badly as she would have usually done around him she noticed, as a small blush tinged her usually pale face pink.

Shikamaru gave a small nod of recognition towards Naruto. He had been appointed leader during the mission briefing, regardless of whether he wanted that role or not. Even so, Shikamaru had began to expect that role in a mission seeing as how Tsunade had a tendency to appoint him as leader. I guess she didn't enjoy the thought of change all too much now. It probably explained why she always kept that same appearance up day after day.

Naruto was grinning, cheerful enough now that the group had finally come together for this useless mission. Tsunade-baa-chan must be going senile to even consider this a mission for him. He was going to be future Hokage after all, right? And he should be using his time to rescue Sasuke!

"Can we go now?" he soon found himself whining, before realising that whilst he had been once again daydreaming of becoming Hokage and rescuing Sasuke, the group had already departed without him with Shikamaru and Kiba at the front with Hinata reluctantly trailing behind.

"HEY. Wait up!"

Oh joy.

-x-

**A/N **Review please? Constructive criticism would be nice, and complaints for me to hurry up and post the next chapter. Also, should I delete this? Let me know! Thank you.


	2. First Impressions

**Ghost Hunt**

_By An Angel In Tears_

**A/N **Wow. An update from me? I bet you're surprised. Or maybe not if you have never heard of me before now.

Anyways, I went to Laser Quasar with my friend and some of her college friends. It was quite fun although apparently my tactics which didn't involve running around in the open didn't go down to well. I hid. A lot. And hit the opposite team by surprise all ninja-like because I disliked the way the vest vibrated when you got hit.

I just realised how difficult it is to try and keep character's whose personalities you aren't really familiar with in character. Joy.

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto.**

-x-

The squad was jumping from tree branch to tree branch soundlessly, which would have been absolutely perfect if this mission just happened to be a infiltration mission. However, this mission was not and it didn't require such silence that surrounded the group.

They had been travelling for just under fifty minutes now, mainly in silence which was now starting to grate on Naruto's nerves.

What was up with these people?

Had somebody died and hadn't told him about it?

Opening his mouth to break the silence that loomed over the group, Naruto had made a terrible mistake. He had forgot to look at the branches he was using to propel himself further with, and had stood on a thin branch that wouldn't be able to support his own weight. This resulted in the branch to snap and cause Naruto to fall through the branches of the tree.

The group had been mainly using low lying branches which were strong enough to support them to travel in, so although Naruto would have a few nicks from smaller branches and twigs, he would gain a bruise from when he fell.

Good job he had the Kyuubi then so he wouldn't have to put up with those nicks and bruises.

If one member out of the group had stopped to worry about Naruto's accident, it was Hinata who appeared to be genuinely worried for a moment, until Naruto propelled himself back up on the branches, mumbling curses at the one which snapped underneath him.

He didn't appear to notice that Hinata had waited for him, concerned, whilst Shikamaru and Kiba just travelled on.

Shame, really.

Eventually, there seemed to be something a little wrong with the atmosphere surrounding the group. The sun had set not too long ago and that would have perhaps caused some of this feeling that was casting itself over the area, but it shouldn't feel this strange.

"It's the mine!" Naruto soon squawked, cutting through the atmosphere and the silence which was surrounding the group. The initial reaction of the group varied. Shikamaru looked bored, eyeing Naruto in a way that just saluted, 'Thank you Mr. Obvious'.

Kiba nodded, a smirk growing on his face. Ghosts or no ghosts, he was going to have some fun freaking the others out just to see how they would react. Especially Naruto who didn't seem so convinced that this mission was even half decent for the group. Not that he disagreed with Naruto, but the blonde had spoken his thoughts a little too loudly in his opinion, especially because he had been annoyed.

Hinata looked over at Naruto with surprise written on her face as she looked over at him before her trademark blush came across her face.

It had always been the same.

No different.

Within a few seconds of Naruto announcing what was obvious, the group landed in the clearing which had been made for the mine when it was still in use, each one of them taking in their surroundings, occasionally shooting the mine a look of distaste.

The area was bare, and the grass which should have been a lush shade of green was yellow and dying in a few spots where there was grass. Other areas had no grass at all, from where old miners trampled when they decided to form dirt paths, and the occasional handle of an old tool or a wheel from a wheelbarrow stuck in the ground was visible to the group's eyes.

A few shrubs and bushes closed off the clearing a little, being choked by the weeds and nettles that were growing. The mine shaft itself wasn't really that important looking. It had a dull rock to form the mouth, whilst anywhere from there downwards was pitch black. Two lamps framed each side of the mouth, although neither appeared to have a candle or a bulb and the glass surrounding it was broken, making the mine more than comforting.

Hinata was wondering why she had to be picked for this mission.

She never liked anything supernatural, and horror stories scared her.

Even so, she couldn't let that show on her face as it could hinder the mission from being as successful as it could be. She was a kunoichi and she shouldn't let any of her emotions get to her!

Refraining a yelp from escaping from her throat, Hinata jumped a little as she felt something light trail over her hair, just touching the back of her neck. She bit her lip, looking around and catching the face of the culprit.

Kiba smirked, a faint glimmer of amusement in his eyes. He wouldn't usually do this to his shy team mate, although he couldn't resist doing so. He was disappointed that he hadn't gotten a more… amusing reaction from the Hyuuga such as a shriek, but then again Hinata wasn't the type to shriek.

Oh well.

Shikamaru and Naruto appeared to be oblivious as to what he had just done, although Shikamaru seemed to be sending off warning vibes to the Inuzuka.

"Well, what's the use in standing around?" drawled Shikamaru, giving the mine a dirty look for a moment. This mission was going to be way too bothersome.

Waiting a few moments as he drank in the various expressions that crossed the groups faces, he continued with, "We should go into the mine. Not too far because it would be too dangerous even with our capabilities."

A silence once again spread itself across the group for a few seconds, before Kiba, Naruto and Hinata chorused a simple, "Hai."

-x-

**A/N **Actually, this chapter has proved to be a little too short for my liking and this wasn't how I wanted to end chapter two. I wanted to get the mine out of the way for this chapter but I guess I couldn't as I didn't know how I would end this chapter.

I'm disappointed, to be honest.

Review?


	3. Strange Noises

**Ghost Hunt**

_By An Angel In Tears_

**A/N** A chapter three? Oh my gosh! But sorry for the late update guys. I had a majority of this chapter typed for a Halloween release but I got bombarded by a dead computer and school work which delayed the release of this chapter.

I thought I should warn that the rating for this fiction will go up as there is going to be some bad language kicking in from now. Just mainly the characters cussing once or twice, but nothing major.

their music.

Peace out.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything associated with it.**

-x-

Cold, damp and dirty.

The perfect three words to describe the mine the group were travelling through.

Naruto, Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru.

The order which the group walked in whilst walking through the mine.

Naruto let out a small grumble as some of the condensed moisture in the mine dripped onto the top of his head, trickling down slowly and leaving a cold trail.

Strange, wasn't it?

The drop of moisture was almost like a bead of sweat which would usually form in warm conditions or when Naruto was pushing himself to go further than his body was happy to accept.

Quite frankly, Naruto was not in any of these conditions. The opposite, to be honest.

The mine was tall enough for the teenagers to stand upright, although Shikamaru found himself stooping every so often because of bigger rock crags on the ceiling of the mine shaft.

To be honest, if this was boring enough for the group it was almost a guarantee that the rest of that night was going to be long and boring, dragging by ever so slowly. What a great way to spend valuable time.

Kiba yawned, not out of being tired, just from the boredom that was growing on him. He usually wasn't the type to do that, and would often find a distraction to make himself busy so he wouldn't be bored. However, what was there to do around here? Nothing. All there was in this tunnel way was rock, moisture, a few pebbles and the group itself.

Even Hinata had appeared a little disappointed when she had used her byakugan to see if there were any criminals around the area, which there were not surprisingly. She had checked the opening of the mouth of the mine, and the look of disappointment that had crossed her face for a few brief seconds was too obvious to miss.

It was then that the group first realised that this mission really was going to be the biggest waste of time.

Which caused a bunch of sulky ninja.

Although one of the ninja found themselves sulking a little more than the others.

Sulking a little bit from this realisation, Kiba kicked a loose pebble that had been lying on the ground. Oh, how amusement. Oh, the fun. Oh, the thrills.

Akamaru got off lucky with this mission in a way, seeing as though he got to miss the boredom that the group of ninja were now suffering. Just for that, Kiba really, really wished that Akamaru could have come on this mission.

Bam.

"What the fuck?" Kiba's voice resounded out of the silence, as he felt something collide with his shoulder. Maybe it was aiming at his head and he should be relieved that it only hit his shoulder, but whatever hit him shouldn't have been hitting him.

Wildly looking around for any sign of what hit him, and which one of his team mates would have hit him, Kiba's eyes soon swept over what it was.

A pebble.

Strange.

Well, now to find out who had thrown it at him in the first place. Hinata was instantly ruled out as it would be really out of character for her to do something like that.

That left Naruto and Shikamaru.

Judging by the way the pebble came from, it would have come from the front and unless Shikamaru had the ability to silently carry out a jutsu with no hand seals that allowed him to attack from behind and make the attack appear from the front, there was no way he would have been able to carry that out.

Anyways, the Nara would have probably registered the 'prank' as troublesome.

That left Naruto, was leading the group through the dark tunnels. Kiba would have noticed if he had turned around or stopped to pick up a pebble, and he would have noticed that happening.

Peculiar.

Hinata, walking behind Kiba, soon picked up Kiba's behaviour and plucked up the courage to ask, "Ano… Kiba-kun, w-what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Kiba mumbled, a little too quick to reply to her question which Shikamaru inevitably picked up on, but didn't make any notion to comment or even show that he knew anything about what had picked up on. It was too troublesome to anyways.

The further down the group travelled into the mine, the colder the atmosphere around them seemed to get which was almost expected as they were going underground after all. However, it was a little too cold for it to be natural, shown by the way Hinata was attempting to inconspicuously rub her hands together to generate some heat.

Or by the fact that Naruto was as outspoken as ever on what he thought and how he was Mr. Obvious. "It's cold," he complained, his voice cutting through the tense atmosphere, his statement being acknowledged by a nod from Kiba who seemed to agree.

Of course, this was nothing. A little cold wasn't going to hurt the group as they were Konoha ninja after all. They were fearless and nothing affected them!

Apparently.

The silence which was cloaked around the group was unnerving, only being broken by the audible foot falls of the group, the chatter which would have usually surrounded them being almost silent.

Hinata, who had earlier suggested that she should use her byakugan to scout the area once or twice as Shikamaru had assumed that was the reason she had been placed on this mission, had given up doing so because it was just proving to be pointless. There was nothing going to happen so what was the point?

Almost five minutes after Kiba's incident with the pebble, Kiba was once again picking up on something quite unusual.

And no, he wasn't going insane.

Although it was very faint there seemed to be some sort of banging going on further down the mine where the group hadn't walked down to yet. If the mine wasn't supposed to be deserted this wouldn't bother Kiba all too much but they had been told this was a _deserted_ mine.

Of course, there was always the possibility of the criminals which the group hadn't seen were hiding down here, although there was a chance that Hinata would have picked up on it earlier when she had checked at the mouth of the mine.

Unless they were further down than they assumed they were.

The sounds that he was hearing was almost difficult to describe. There was no mindless chatter, just the sound of metal hitting something solid like rock.

Since when did criminals become miners anyways?

Kiba stopped, Naruto mindlessly walking into him, "What's wrong, Kiba? You seem to be over-reacting a lot lately. You scared without Akamaru?"

Brushing off the barrage of questions from Naruto as childless, Kiba then prompted to ask his own question to Hinata, who had stopped like Shikamaru to see what was actually going on behind them, "Hinata, can you use your Byakugan and check ahead?"

Blinking at this almost unusual command, Hinata nodded and formed the hand seal needed with her hand, "Byakugan."

As the group became opaque figures illuminated by chakra, Hinata faced the direction Kiba had indicated, looking further down. When she had seen all that she could see her Byakugan deactivated and reported her findings to the group.

"It's d-deserted from what I can see, although there seems to be one or two w-wisps of some sort of chakra. There's a-also another tunnel l-leading off from the one we're c-currently going down," she stuttered, her eyes down at the floor.

Shikamaru nodded, evaluating what these findings meant in his mind. The chakra which Hinata had mentioned was interesting because she had also said that there appeared to be nobody down there.

Kiba seemed to also be going through his mind what she had said, before admitting, "You guys probably can't hear this yet because I've got heightened hearing but there sounds as though there's somebody down there. I thought it was a criminal, but…"

Naruto's eyes widened a little, a grin plastered on his face. Maybe this mission wasn't going to be as boring as Tsunade-baa-chan had hinted that it was going to be!

Shikamaru took in what Kiba had said, before continuing to walk in the direction the strange activity was going on in, the cold temperature continuing to drop as the group did so and the noises which Kiba had initially heard reaching the ears of all the members in the group.

Soon enough, they came to the way in which the tunnel split, and the group paused. Shikamaru was leader so he was to decide what happened, regardless of the opinions of the others in the team.

"Naruto, hINATA, you two take the hallway leading off. Kiba and I will continue down this one," Shikamaru announced, deciding that this would be the best.

Hinata, Kiba and Naruto nodded, splitting off and going down the tunnel way they were supposed to go down.

-x-

**A/N** Review please? Because your reviews remind me to actually update this thing, and I adore criticism.

Thank you!


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